


Remnants of the Past

by calkenobi



Category: Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, basically it jumps around between timelines a lil bit, non-cyclical, technically? sort of lol, we'll call it Medium Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21772984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calkenobi/pseuds/calkenobi
Summary: Takes place a few months post - Jedi:Fallen Order, mostly canon compliant but I put Cal's kidnapping after the end of the game's content rather than during.A young, jaded bounty hunter finds herself allied with the new-found Jedi traipsing around the galaxy- but she finds herself surrounded by reminders of her own past as remnants of her own Force-sensitivity begin to resurface.
Relationships: BD-1 & Cal Kestis, Cal Kestis/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the short start, had a few issues and had to rewrite part of the first chapter, which will now be part of the second!  
> I'll do my best to post the next chapter tomorrow, but updates will be inconsistent because I'm bad at writing lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> greetings all y'all who came here from my tiny following on Tumblr (also calkenobi), couple notes before we dive in lmao  
> We’re pretending that my boi got abducted post game ending bc i need it for my plot to work lmao  
> have fun and please don't yell at me this is the first fic i've ever actually shared and idk what i'm doing

"I'll bet on the Jedi." The voice chimed in from across the room, and all eyes turned to the bounty hunter.  
"What makes you so sure?"  
"I'll match bets." They stood, tossing their holocard in hand.  
"We have a challenger." The bookie announced with a grin.  
The bounty hunter stepped further into the light, revealing nearly nothing- their mouth covered by a black respirator, and everything but their strange, orange eyes covered.  
They swiped the card through, and the bookie grinned.  
"Good luck, rookie." He sneered, earning a few laughs. The bounty hunter shrugged and returned to their seat by the window, watching as the Jedi received his lightsaber.  
The fight starts off slow, just a few small fauna from nearby planets that the Jedi cuts down easily.  
The Jedi is capable, although he gets knocked down a few times when the Brood sends in a few much larger animals they've never even seen before, but the Jedi, again, seems to know what he's doing and is able to end the fight before he can get too banged up.  
There's a pause, and the Jedi stills. If the bounty hunter squints hard enough, they can see his chest heaving.  
Then Sorc Tormo appears in all his self-righteous glory, and sends in two of his bounty hunters, one of them his ridiculous bots- good for nothing but unloading ammunition into the wrong places.  
However, the Jedi doesn't know that. He leaps for the humanoid hunter and they jet away, unleashing a spray of blaster fire that the red-haired enigma can barely deflect, an explosion knocking him off his feet as the droid leaps for the kill.  
This is getting bad.  
The Jedi is getting beat down, and the bounty hunter exhales sharply through their nose. They concentrate, and flick their fingers. The humanoid hunter loses control of their jetpack, giving the Jedi enough time to take down the droid before focusing solely on the last hunter, finally able to end it quickly. Sorc Tormo yells out over the intercoms, devastated about losing two of his biggest money-bags or something. Then someone in the background starts screaming about proximity alarms,  
The bounty hunter smirks, and stands as a ship crashes through the barrier. They scan it quickly, and watch as the Jedi leaps onboard, the ship retreating as blaster fire pings off the hull.  
Once the ship is gone, the stadium is in uproar- mostly about losing their money.  
"Looks like I win." The hunter asserts, confidence radiating from them as they break the tense silence in the room.  
"You think you can steal from us?" The whir of a blaster activating alerts them to the speaker, and in a flash the hunter's blaster is pointed at the smuggler's forehead, who raises his hands, wide-eyed as his blaster hangs from his fingertips.  
"I bet, I won. You lost." They said, voice cold. Their head turned slightly and suddenly their vibroblade was up and the smuggler behind them was down, a hole sizzling in their torso.  
"Is this how you wanna go?" They asked. Silence rings around the room. "I didn’t think so." They sheathed the blade and their blaster, stepping over the smuggler's body.  
"Your credits have been transferred." The bookie announces, defeated. The hunter nods to the bookie and walks out, ignoring the sudden clamor behind them. It was time to get out of here before things got worse.  
They made their way to their ship, getting out of the crime syndicate and into hyperspace before they could be followed.  
\---


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this one is super long to make up for the lack of content with the first chapter, please enjoy  
> also don't forget to let your creators know that you appreciate them by dropping a kudos! they mean more than you think :)

Two hours and a jump later, they landed on a foggy planet, rain gently falling outside, pattering on the windows of the small ship. They got up, climbing out of the ship and making their way to the tiny hut that served as a doorway to a safe haven- a hiding spot, on an ‘uninhabitable’ planet, far beyond the reach of the Empire.  
It wasn’t much, but it was home, for now.  
The bounty hunter opened the door, slipping inside and heading straight for the refresher. They pulled off their helmet and respirator, taking in a deep breath of the cool air.  
"Kriff." Came the feminine voice. "Is that getting worse?" She peered into the mirror, poking at the scar along her neck, creeping up her jawline. It was a unique scar, in the way that most of the people with these types of scars were dead.  
Not many could survive Sith lightning.  
She shakes her mind free of the thoughts lingering there, and studies the rest of her reflection. She's gotten paler again, having to hide her face from criminals and the law alike-though lately the two have seemed one and the same. The circles under her dark eyes were accentuated by the loss of color in her skin. She ran her fingers through her stark blonde hair, leaving it down for the time being as she peeled off her suit, throwing it in the sonic cleaner and replacing it with a simple pair of pants and a tank top. She made her way out again, bringing her helmet with her and over to a small workstation, syncing up her database with the scans of new possible enemies, pawns to either the Empire or the criminal underworld- and the curious Jedi.  
The Stinger Mantis was famous among the underbelly of galactic society; not for its impressive maneuvers or for its low fuel consumption, but for the large bounty on its Captain’s head. In fact, the whole crew seemed to have bounties. She scrolled through them, stopping at the middle two when she saw both of the keywords labeling them.  
There were two Jedi on this ship? Why would two figureheads of the rebellion travel together... did they want to get found? And rumor had it that they were even travelling with a Nightsister, who was also said to be the last of her kind. She’s heard of these people- mostly from drunken cantina frequenters and various small bounties she's taken- but she's definitely heard of them. She spun her chair to the holo-table and searched her Imperial records. When she came across the file she ran her hand through her hair, letting out a triumphant noise. She was right. These glorious bastards had been wreaking havoc all over the empire- and, considering how few Jedi there were that weren't completely in hiding- chances were that these two Jedi were the ones who managed to free half of Kashyyyk in less than a cycle. She continued to read up on them, getting lost in her searching until a ping from her scanner jolted her. The bounty hunter slid her chair sideways to get a better look, and nearly laughed at her luck.  
The Mantis had registered on a landing pad on a planet nearby, and there was a missing person’s bounty on that planet. Some poor sap’s daughter had gone traipsing into the ruins nearby and disappeared. There was a meager reward, not that she needed it. All she needed was the excuse to go there. And, with how her luck was turning out today, the inhabitants of that ship were also headed for the ruins. She considered her choices; she could either try to find these people- and the kid- or, she could ignore the whole thing and try to get some upgrades for her ship on Corellia. Corellia would take time, and cost credits. She had credits now that she'd won that bet, but shopping for the right upgrades was more trouble than it was worth.  
"Oh, kriff. I haven't got anything better to do." she muttered. Might as well try. She followed transmission procedure, and eventually a frazzled looking shopkeep answered.  
“Hello?” he asks, looking into the camera with no small amount of fear. She wondered why.  
“My name is Saiph Kallea, I’m a bounty hunter. You have a-"  
“I don’t know anything about those strangers that landed here. I promise.” the shopkeeper answered over her, and she put up a hand before he could end the transmission.  
“I’m not calling about them. I’m calling about the missing person’s bounty you set. Your daughter?”  
“You’d take it? Everyone believes those ruins are cursed, and I’m too sick to go in after her.” now that he’s said it, he does look sickly. Pallid, deep circles under his eyes- though that is a common side effect of the stress of living on an outer world. She glances over to her stores. She had plenty of med kits. Could come in handy if anyone has any information about the 'strangers'.  
“How long has she been gone?” Saiph asks, visibly noting things on a separate part of the holo-table.  
“Two days now. I’m afraid she- she may have fallen or-” he begins to cough wetly, the sound echoing in the cockpit.  
“Calm down, you’ll make yourself worse.” she waits, and eventually the coughing fit subsides.  
“I’m sorry. It’s never been this bad.” he says, and she can almost feel his regret through the monitor.  
“I have medical supplies, I could bring them with me.” Saiph supplies in lieu of a real answer, gesturing in the vague direction of her stores.  
“I couldn’t possibly pay. You’ve seen the meager sum I’ve got to offer.” the shopkeep says, and she waves a hand dismissively.  
“Forget money. In exchange for the supplies, I want information." she leans forwards on her elbows.  
“About what?” the shopkeep’s interest piqued, and the hunter leaned back in her chair.  
“The Mantis. I’ve received word that it landed on Toth Gordo, near the ruins your daughter went missing in.”  
“I don’t know much, but gossip spreads quickly here.” he seems wary, but eases somewhat as she smiles evenly at him.  
“Good. Find out what you can, and you can tell me when I bring back your daughter. Do we have a deal?"  
“Yes. Thank you, Saiph Kallea.”  
“I’ll be there in a few hours.” she says, and ends the transmission. This is perfect.  
She tries not to let herself think about her reasons for finding these people. She may be a bounty hunter, but the money on their heads means they're far more trouble than they're worth- at least to her.  
\---  
Her jumpship drops out of hyperspace with a mild shudder, and she ponders on getting a new stabilizer with some of the money she won as she steers towards Toth Gordo. She lands perfectly, just outside city limits. She can see the Mantis in the distance through the fog, gleaming in black and gold glory. God, it looks pretentious. She can only hope its inhabitants aren’t the same.  
She dispatches her speeder and climbs out of her ship, landing solidly on the damp ground as she pulls her cloak on. It’s pleasantly cool, and a fine mist has settled over the green landscape.  
She closes her respirator over her face and pulls up her hood, fastening it to the bottom of her respirator and climbing onto her speeder. She ignites the engine and begins to make her way to the coordinates supplied, weaving around buildings and breezing past people and shop stalls. She's sure she earns a few strange looks- a dark, hooded and cloaked figure speeding by in a place that probably didn't get many visitors.  
Within a few minutes she reaches the coordinates. A small workshop with fogged windows awaits her, and she climbs off, locking her speeder down and knocking on the door. A cool, damp breeze blows past and her cloak brushes around her legs. She’s glad she settled on wearing it, even if she could deal with being cold.  
The door slides open and she pulls back her hood, and the shopkeep recognizes her immediately, bringing her inside.  
“Thank you for coming.” He says, bowing his head briefly. She nods and sets down her pack, opening the top so he can see the various medical supplies.  
“That should be enough for your whole village to make sure no one else gets sick.” she leaves it on the table, and the shopkeeper's eyes shine wetly.  
“Thank you. I don’t know how we could ever repay you.”  
“I’ve got more than enough money. Just tell me everything you can so I can find your daughter.”  
“Yes, yes! Here.” the shopkeep, whose name she reads as Prodak -odd name- from his basic tag, gives her a chip that she inserts into the brace on her left forearm. “This is the map we have of the ruins. It’s far from complete, but I hope it can at least help you.” he says. “I don’t know why my daughter left. I woke up in the middle of the night to silence, and I knew something had to be wrong. She was already long gone, her bed was cold. I have no idea when she left.”  
“But she had to have left after you had gone to bed, yes?” she asked, and he nodded. “Is anyone else missing?”  
“No.” he shakes his head.  
“How do you know she went to the ruins, and didn’t just run away?”  
“I-” Prodak sighed. “I don’t. I wish I did, but- there’s nothing around here for miles. The next settlement would take anyone a week to travel to on foot. And no one is missing any food.”  
“Do you have any photos I could borrow? There may be others in the ruins.” It's a poor excuse and she knows it, but it seems he can sense what she means anyway.  
“You need to be able to identify them if they’ve been killed.” he says slowly, looking down. He seems to have already accepted that his daughter may be dead.  
“I apologize. I was trying not to say it.” she says, and he hands her a photo, of his daughter and two other kids. She can’t be older than fourteen or fifteen. One is obviously the shopkeep’s daughter, Pir. She’s thin and dark-haired, like her father. The other girl is dark-skinned, with big brown eyes and a shock of half-shaven, curly hair. The boy is Rodian, with deep turquoise skin and large black eyes. Their names are labeled along the bottom, Pir, Silva, and Krodi.  
“I know. Unlike the other settlers, I hold no illusions of what lies in that forsaken place. Only darkness lies there.”  
“That must have been what attracted them.” she mutters.  
“Who? My daughter?”  
“No. The other strangers.” she said, standing up. “Thank you for the information. I’ll contact you when I find anything.”  
“Thank you, hunter. Not often that bounty hunters have good hearts.”  
“I don’t have a good heart.” she rebukes, flipping up her hood. She climbs back onto her speeder and rockets off, leaving the city relatively quickly and heading towards the Mantis, and towards the coordinates on the map. If her luck continues, someone will still be there that she can ask some questions. She doesn’t wanna go into these ruins blind, especially not if what Prodak says is true.  
If he's right.... Saiph may have more trouble on her hands than she wants.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this one is longer? Oh well  
> thanks for reading, hope ya enjoy!

She slowed her speeder as she reached the top of the hill, sliding sideways to a stop when she reached the crest. The Mantis had landed just outside the ruins, and its ramp was still down- meaning either no one had left yet or the pilot was still onboard.  
Her luck was suspiciously good today. She drifted down the hill, away from the Mantis and towards the entrance to the ruins- half sunken, and the entrance was clearly blocked, but in front of it lay a sink-hole with a rope dangling over it.  
Hopefully left by Pir. She parked the speeder nearby and locked it down, unclasping and lowering her hood. After checking her levels on her brace, she removed her respirator, and put it inside a storage compartment on her vehicle, taking a deep, slow breath. Best to not seem quite as threatening- who knows what would happen to her if both Jedi immediately perceived her as a threat. She’d be dead within minutes, and even that was giving herself too much credit. Her cloak flowed, but there was no wind. At least they were nice enough to warn her of their presence, as if she couldn’t sense the ripples in the Force from where they stood. She turned, a hand automatically going for her blaster, but she moved it away instead as she saw someone move out of the corner of her eye.  
There stood the Jedi, having just walked down the ramp. His lightsaber was already in his hand, but still disengaged.  
“You must be Cal Kestis.” she smiles, and then realizes she probably shouldn’t have started with his name because now he looks ready to throw her headfirst into the ruins without a second thought. He doesn’t, though, which she supposes is a testament to his character- or a flaw.  
"How did you find me?" he says, but doesn’t move any closer so she figures she’s safe for the moment. She keeps her hands relaxed, even though they’re itching for something to grab onto.  
"It wasn't that hard, the Mantis is a pretty recognizable ship. I wanted to congratulate you on your performance in the arena. You won me a lot of credits.” she says, in lieu of actually explaining how her scanners worked. She figured he already knew. Another figure came down the ramp, hand on her own saber. Cere Junda. Neither looked like they’d entered the ruins yet, which either meant they knew something she didn’t or they were gearing up for a fight. Neither option sounded good to her.  
“How’d you know I’d win?” he steps forward, wary. She subtly shifts back, but she can feel Cere probing around her presence. If she hadn’t already figured things out, she would now.  
“I had a good feeling.” she said, and flicked her fingers. Her cloak moved again, this time of her own volition instead of the original warning. The wind was eerily still in this strange valley, and everything felt muted. Maybe the shopkeeper was right about this place.  
“You have a connection with the Force?” Kestis gapes, half drops his guard, his lightsaber now hanging loose in his hand. Junda doesn’t. Good on her. “Were you part of the Temple?” Hope laces his words, and she tries to let him down as easily as possible.  
With a scathing rebuke.  
“I was never enough for the Jedi.” she laughs. “Not strong enough in the Force and too sickly.”  
“You saved me in the arena. I felt it. You sent that other bounty hunter flying.” Kestis says, his eyes alight. He seems to think she’ll join their cause or something. Kid really needs a reality check, but if fighting in a war hadn’t done that, nothing would.  
“Please. All I did was push a little air at him.” she rolled her eyes, trying her best to keep her stance neutral.  
“Anything is enough for the Jedi now.” Junda steps in, and Saiph narrows her eyes. There’s something off about her, but she can’t figure out what.  
“The Jedi? You’re saying that like you’re trying to-” she stops, a huff of disbelief leaving her chest. “You’re trying to rebuild the Order?” she sounds incredulous, which- considering her own experience- is perfectly rational.  
“Yes. We can use all the help we can get.” Kestis chimes in, and Saiph shakes her head, stepping back to her speeder and opening the compartment. She can practically feel their eyes on her, daring her to try something. She takes out her respirator and can practically feel them relax the tiniest bit.  
“Look, I didn’t come here to join your little ragtag team.” she frowns at the offending machinery as she pinches her finger before pulling it back on and clasping it in place. She was going to need it down there.  
“Then why are you here?” Junda asks, getting wary again. Her foot stance widens, ever so slightly, readying for a fight.  
“I have a bounty to fulfill.” she says simply, activating her scanners towards the entrance of the ruins. Looks like so far at least, that map was correct. She breathes a short sigh of relief, but she feels the blistering heat of the younger Jedi’s glare.  
“For the Empire?” he accuses, and Saiph just laughs, ignoring the rush of tingling along her scar, thankfully mostly hidden by her collar. These Jedi were nosier than the gross old men at the cantinas.  
“Did you really think that’s all we bounty hunters do?” she mocks him, turning away and walking about to get a more in depth scan on the place. If it had any wayward energy spikes, she’d be the first to know. They seemed to let their guard down, seeing her entirely focused on something other than them.  
“Never met a bounty hunter that didn’t try to kill me.” Kestis says, and she considers that. It’s a fair assumption on his part. He does have a massive price on his head. Massive enough that anyone who earned it could buy a big ship and a bigger mansion on some fancy Inner Rim planet to live out their lives in luxury.  
“Not all of us are bad people, Jedi. Not many of us are good, either.” she huffs a laugh at her own expense. “Either way, I’m not here for you or your crew, despite the pretty price on your heads.”  
“Why don’t you try for it then?” he challenges, and Junda places a hand on his shoulder, trying to placate the fiery-haired Jedi.  
“Wow. It’s almost like you’re itching for a fight.” she almost taunts, but tones it down so she doesn’t get her head lopped off. “Some of us value our lives more than our pockets. Besides, you lined mine pretty nicely from that fight. It’d be pretty rude of me to attack you for it.” She closed the scanner, satisfied with her findings. Nothing yet, but no lifeforms either. Prodak’s daughter must be deep inside the ruins, if she’s still alive. “I have someone to find.” she waved derisively and made sure her blaster and her vibroblade were secure before pulling the rope towards her and grabbing on, walking to the edge and giving a mock salute before hopping off, wrapping her legs around the rope and sliding down into the ruins. They were semi-dark, very little natural light filtering in from above. She grabbed her light from her belt and smacked against her knee twice before it lit up, moving forwards into the dark.  
She paused at the first split, pulling up the holomap. One lead to what looked like a stiff climb down and the other led to a large room, with what looked like a single way forward- probably the most viable option. She did however scan down the drop, sighing with relief when there were no bodies in the area.  
It was then that she heard footsteps echoing, and she turned, a hand resting on her vibroblade, even though she knew it could only be one of the two Jedi. Kestis jogged up behind her, a strange little bipedal droid on his back. It scanned her quickly and launched a series of beeps at the Jedi, a warning.  
“Rude, little droid.” she stated. “Why did you follow me?” she interrogates, hoping it wasn’t for a fight. He seemed hot-headed- not something she needed right now.  
“I have my own mission, but it can wait. I want to help find whoever you’re looking for. Also you can speak binary?” he interjects himself, and she wonders how Junda put up with him. At first look, the scars and rugged appearance betray a serious persona, but now that he’s talking, he seems much younger. Not older than her.  
“Shut up for a second.” she doesn’t answer, pulling her goggles back onto her face and touching the side of them. She knelt to the ground, blowing away the dust to reveal it stuck to some places, adding them to her small database of clues.  
“Footprints.” Kestis breathed, and she stood, pushing her goggles back again and letting out a long-suffering sigh.  
“Kriff, are all Jedi this awestruck at everything?” she muttered, and took the path to the room. She could hear him following behind her, occasionally stopping when the droid, who she learned was BD-1, beeped at something and scanned it.  
The entrance to the room ahead loomed above them. The door was only open by just over a foot, and so Saiph sucked in a breath and exhaled, pulling herself through with no trouble. Kestis slid through as well, and they were greeted by a giant, strange statue holding an orb.  
“Cere was right. This is a Zeffo ruin.” he doesn’t step forwards, however, and she turns around.  
“Zeffo?” Saiph asked, and Kestis turned to her.  
“The Zeffo are these people,” he gestured to the worn carvings in the wall, and she scanned them, starting a new file. This ancient race, all able to use the Force. The most powerful were called Sages. This might be one of their tombs.”  
“Creepy.” Saiph muttered, pulling up her holomap. “Damn it. The map that shopkeeper gave me doesn’t go any farther than this.” she looked up, scanning the room until she saw why. The floor gave out to a good twenty foot drop into deep looking water, but there looked to be a way to climb across, though it seemed treacherous.  
BD-1 chirped and hopped down from Kestis’ shoulders, projecting a much more detailed map on the floor.  
“Wow. Your mapping abilities are way better than mine.” the droid let out a prideful trill, and after she studied and copied the map she figured out where the girl had to have gone.  
“This is the only path a fourteen year old kid could have followed.” she points out, and BD-1 dutifully marks it out with a bold yellow line. “Thanks, BD-1.” It chirps joyfully and Kestis crouches and holds out an arm so the blue and white droid can climb back up. She ignores how alarmed the Jedi looks at learning that he’s trying to find a child.  
“We need to climb that way.” she points to the wall overhanging the drop, making her way towards it. There’s enough cracks in it that she can easily climb up, and Kestis follows all too quickly after, doing some Force jump to propel him most of the way up the wall.  
“Showoff.” she taunts before moving back. She notices a dark stain on a stone at the edge. It doesn’t look fresh, but she can’t tell if it’s a few days old or a millenia. She moves closer and reaches out. With any luck, she’ll be able to use her strange power to tell if-  
A sudden wave of fear washed over her.  
“Sleep, my child. All will be well soon.”  
“I’m afraid.”  
“Your peace will come.”  
Sudden pain sparked from her back and she stumbled, nearly blinded by it. Her foot slipped on the edge and-  
Kestis grabbed her arm, pulling her back to safety. She snapped out of it and he looked at her with a mix of concern and wonder.  
“You felt that?” he asked, and she shudders.  
“You mean- you felt that, right? I’m not crazy?” she acts as if she’s never seen this happen before- he can’t know.  
“Are you kidding? This ability is rare in Force users. Extremely. I’ve only ever known one other person with it.” Kestis says, still offering a steady hand. “Are you okay?”  
“I’ve never had one that hurt that bad.” she acquiesces. She can at least admit to having it. “Don’t touch it.” she spares a glance at the stained stone. “I thought it might have been hers.”  
“We’re lucky it isn’t. You okay to move on?”  
“Yeah.” she shakes the last remnants of the dark feelings off. “I don’t want to talk about this.”  
“We don’t have to.” Kestis says, and is finally quiet. They climb up the rest of the way and walk through a series of halls until they come to another large room, but this one is a little more complete, and had a few lights burning. Pir couldn’t have gotten far past this point.  
She notices a bronze statue- it looks like it hasn’t aged at all. She steps towards it and Kestis practically dives in front of her, igniting his saber. Two orange blades come out either end, and he holds up a guard.  
“Kriff, Jedi! What was that for?” she hisses, ignoring the burning feeling in her stomach at the sight of a real lightsaber.  
“That statue isn’t what you think. It’s an old guardian, forged by the Zeffo to keep away unwanted visitors. They’re extremely powerful and dangerous.”  
“You don’t think it could have attacked her, right?” she really had hoped that Pir wasn’t dead, and not just because she didn’t want to carry a dead body out of these ruins. She didn’t want to see Prodak’s face if he learned of his daughter’s death.  
“There’s no signs of it having activated yet. She must have managed to get by. We’re gonna have to take it down so we don’t have to fight it on the way out.”  
“Okay.” she grits her teeth and sighs. Clearly the Jedi knows more here. “Tell me what to do.” Saiph begrudgingly lets him take the lead.  
“See the orb in the middle?” he points towards the blue glass, and she nods.  
“Yeah, is that its weak point?”  
“Yeah. Only when it’s powering up for an attack. I can push it out, you keep a distance and use your blaster on it. Should finish the job relatively quick.” Kestis says, but she hears a waver in his voice. Something tells her this is going to be harder than he lets on.  
“I’ll follow your lead.” she says.  
“BD, stick with- I never got your name.”  
“Saiph.” she answers shortly, pulling out her blaster.  
“Cal. BD, stay with Saiph.”  
BD-1 let out a long beep and Saiph laughed.  
“Oh come on, BD.” Kestis sighed. “Okay, let’s get this over with.” He began immediately as Saiph readied her blaster, moving to the wall. He pulled the statue towards him and sure enough it began to move, and the orb in the middle began to glow. It swiped at him a few times before he sliced at it, leaving a deep gouge in its arm. It lit up and fired a beam from its chest, and the Jedi pushed the orb out of the statue’s back after dodging out of the way. Saiph fired shot after shot into the orb. It did some damage, but after a moment the orb was pulled back into the statue’s body. The cycle repeated again, and then the statue changed. It moved faster, and Kestis was barely dodging, and barely landing any hits. It was beginning to tire him out, which was worrying considering he was supposed to be a powerful Force user.  
She needed a better vantage point. She began to frantically climb up, managing to haul herself up to a ledge above the two as he kept dodging hits from the statue.  
“Kestis, push him backwards!” she yelled, pulling out her vibroblade and setting it to the highest possible frequency. The Jedi did his best, only able to shove the statue back a few feet, but it was enough. She leapt, swinging the blade above her head and then down as she landed on top of the statue, slicing its head in half. It stumbled, and Kestis took the opportunity to shove his lightsaber through the core. It quite literally crumbled to pieces, and Saiph landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her. She laid there for a second, relishing in the victory before the Jedi held out a hand and she grabbed it, letting him pull her up.  
“Nice move.” he said, catching his breath.  
“You too.” she waved off the compliment, and sheathed her vibroblade.  
After they took a moment to breathe, BD climbed back up onto Kestis’ shoulders, and they moved on.  
“After that, I hope that kid made it out okay.”  
“You keep saying kid, and yet you can’t be older than maybe 20.” Kestis says, and she huffs, but doesn’t say anything. “I’m right, aren’t I?”  
“You don’t have a ledge to stand on, Jedi. You’re, what, 19?”  
“Wow. Nailed that one. How old are you, anyway?”  
“I’m good at reading people.” Saiph says, ignoring the question.  
“How does a teenager get into bounty hunting anyway?” Kestis probes, and she sighs, going with the shortest version of the truth.  
“They lose everything and have no other options.”  
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Kestis replies, and she can hear the earnestness in his voice.  
“Can’t be worse than what you went through. You had to be, what, fourteen when the Purge happened?” she doesn’t like where this conversation is going, but she feels powerless to stop her own damn mouth.  
“Yeah. But it’s no worse. Everyone had messed up stuff happen to them.”  
“Yeah.” Saiph says softly, and they fall into an almost amicable silence.  
Saiph stops in her tracks suddenly, and he nearly bumps into her, neatly sidestepping.  
“Do you hear that?” she asks, and Kestis shakes his head. “Come on. It has to be her.”  
She moves faster, with renewed vigor, even though her breath is a little laboured, forcing clouds of air through her respirator. They come to a metal doorway- the cracks through the middle are large enough for a kid, but too small for them to fit through. She double checks her scans again, seeing the life behind the doors.  
“Can you get this open?” she asks, gesturing to them as she looks at Cal.  
“Hello? Is anyone there?” a young, feminine voice calls out, and Saiph voices a reassurance.  
“I got it.” he says, and reaches out, pulling. The metal slowly bends away to reveal the shopkeeper’s daughter, seemingly fine besides a few bumps and scrapes. Saiph quickly unclasps her respirator in an effort to seem less dangerous, even though it’s much harder to breathe down here without it.  
“My name is Saiph Kallea. I was sent by your father, Prodak.”  
“Father sent you? But- you’re a bounty hunter! And you’re a- a-” she stops. “You’re a Jedi.” she stares agape at Kestis, who looks visibly uncomfortable.  
“Enough about this. Are you injured?” she says, and the girl pushes herself to her feet.  
“No, just scrapes and bruises.” Pir says, almost bashfully, taking furtive glances at Kestis.  
Ugh.  
“Good. Come on. Kestis, you take the lead. I’ll take the back.” Saiph directs, and the Jedi begins to lead them out of the tomb. They follow him closely, and a few times Pir asks questions, and he seems uncomfortable with her scrutiny. Saiph doesn’t pity him, and for once, she’s glad her occupation makes her less than desirable to this kid.  
\---  
They finally climb out, and Saiph’s muscles are beginning to ache from the fight, her adrenaline wearing off.  
“Whoa. Your ship is cool.” Pir moves closer to Kestis, who is beginning to look like he regrets helping, which is a hilarious look on a Jedi’s face. Saiph checks her levels again and frowns, catching his gaze. He looks concerned, but she waves him off. No wonder she was so tired. She turns away from the other two, sticking a stim shot through the bare skin on her wrist, mottled with tiny scars from the stim shots. She walks over to her speeder and finally gets enough signal to contact the shopkeep. He answers immediately, looking stressed.  
“Have you found something? Is my daughter still alive?”  
“Yes. We found her, safe and sound besides a few scrapes.” she looks up, and Kestis gives her an uncomfortable smile.  
“We?” Prodak leans forwards, intrigued.  
“I had a little help.” she flips the holo to face Kestis, who is struggling to answer all her questions.  
“Thank you for your help. We’ll be there as soon as possible.” the transmission ends and Saiph finally approaches the Jedi and his newest fan.  
“Hey.” she interrupts, “Your father will be here soon.” she announces, and Pir goes quiet. Kestis gives her a thankful look. “I have med patches on my speeder. Let’s get you at least a bit patched up before you go home.”  
She dutifully follows Saiph back to her speeder, and she does her best, watching out of the corner of her eye as the Jedi speaks to the Lateran, occasionally gesturing towards her. The Lateran looks disgruntled to say the least, but then again, most Laterans look angry all the time.  
Prodak comes over the hill, and Pir sees him, running straight into his arms. He looks a little less pale, and Saiph hopes that the meds she left are working. The reunion is sweet and teary, but thankfully short as the shopkeep approaches Saiph.  
“Here. We can’t possibly thank you enough for your help.” he hands her a pouch, and she takes it with a nod. “If you ever need a place to rest, please. You will be welcome here.”  
“Thank you, but I didn’t do this alone. Without their help I may not have found her in time.” she nods to Kestis, who is now joined by the other two.  
“Then you both will be welcome here.” he says, nodding to the now trio standing on the ramp.  
Saiph ends the exchanges of gratitude as quickly as possible, and eventually they leave. She turns back to her speeder, placing the scanning equipment back into the nav and setting destination coordinates for her ship.  
“I’m glad there are people like you out there.” Kestis says from behind her as she readies her speeder. “What’ll you do now?” the question comes unprompted, and she sighs, turning to face him. She can’t keep looking at his stupidly bright disposition any more.  
“Keep on surviving.” she says. “By the way- this is yours.” she tosses him the pouch. “Like I said before, you earned me plenty of money for a long while.”  
“But Saiph-”  
“I don’t need it, Kestis. Don’t want it either.”  
Kestis pauses a moment, and acquiesces.  
“Thank you.”  
“I hope you find what you’re looking for down there.” she gestures as the ruins as she climbs up her speeder.  
“Any chance I can still convince you to join us?” he looks hopeful as usual, and she grimaces.  
“I can’t.” she says, and the mood turns somber.  
“Why not?” the Jedi asks, and she shakes her head, resecuring her cloak and pulling up her hood, closing the clasps securely.  
“I just can’t. You don’t know me at all. You don’t know what I’ve done.” she answers as vaguely as possible, unlocking the speeder.  
“The past is the past.” he starts, meeting her gaze, searching. “I learned that the hard way.”  
She can’t find it in her to respond, so she doesn’t, really.  
“We’ll be seeing each other, Cal.” she savors the expression on his face as she speeds away. The shock on his face at her use of his first name, and the pink flush that came with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just so ya know, the next update is going to take a while because i had a time skip written in that i want to elaborate on now, plus finals week is this week so I'm getting my ass kicked  
> see ya soon!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I disappeared for a while, December-February was r o u g h... I lost my love for Fallen Order for a little while bc I was playing Death Stranding which btw is an amazing game but anyways I started playing Fallen Order again and fell back in love and found my motivation to keep writing this piece.

The rebellion on Kashyyyk is advancing on the Empire, despite the wash of fresh Imperials flooding the refinery and surrounding landscape. And so, when Mari called on Cal and the crew of the Mantis to help them end this-hopefully- final battle, they returned to fight, to end the Imperial reign over the planet and its resources.  
They landed back on the landing pad where it had all begun; where Cal had somewhat unknowingly launched himself into the forefront of the rebellion. Merrin joined him and BD-1 this time, Cere staying back to monitor Imperial transmissions and to make sure Greez didn’t lose his mind with worry. They make their way through the halls, Cal knowing them well enough by now not to lose his way as they kept a heading for the frontlines, not far outside the refinery.  
“Cal, you’ve got incoming from Mari.” Cere crackled in and then out again as Mari began to speak.  
“Glad you’re here, Cal. Cere tells me the Nightsister is with you too?”  
“Yeah, she’s here to help.” he sends a smile Merrin’s way, and she sends a sort-of smile back. They’re still working on that.  
“Great. I have a favor to ask, but I need her here, on the line with us. Having her help will provide a lot of support for us, physically and morally. You, however, I need to divert.”  
“What do you need, Mari?”  
“The bounty hunter, Kallea- she’s been providing air support like no other, taking down gunships and Imperial transports since yesterday. I need you to- kriff!” the line goes silent and Cal calls out.  
“Mari? Mari, are you there? Cere, what happened?”  
“Cal, I need you to get to the Shadowlands as fast as possible- an AT-AT just landed a rocket on her, she went spinning off into the forest. Her callsign is still active. Be careful.” Mari clicks out and Cal changes direction.  
“Hold on, Cal!” Merrin calls out. “What’s going on?”  
“Keep going to the frontlines, Cere will guide you the rest of the way. I have to go find Saiph. She crashed in the Shadowlands.”  
“Okay. Be safe.” she iterates before jogging off in the opposite direction.  
Cal lets out a breath of worry for both his friend and- could he consider Saiph a friend? He thought so.  
"Okay, BD, can we figure out exactly where Saiph landed?"  
BD trilled, projecting the holomap from his shoulder, zooming over to the Shadowlands and projecting an indigo circle. It wasn’t a huge search area, and hopefully he’d be able to spot her before any Imperials did.   
"Got it. Shouldn't take long."  
\---  
They finally made it into the Shadowlands, and headed straight for her beacon, seeing the smoke rising in the distance.  
"That looks bad." He said and BD cooed a worried response. They rushed over the top of the hill and saw the wreckage. Pieces of metal strewn apart, various bits on fire- it looked like a meteor had struck the soft earth.  
"Saiph?" Cal yells out, heading straight for the cockpit of the small gunship.  
The smoke burns his lungs, and he can only imagine how much it hurts her weakened respiratory system.  
She's not there. The glass is broken and nothing to be found.  
There's blood on a jagged shard of glass.  
He reaches forwards with his ungloved hand and touched the shard, immediately reeling.  
"I'm hit! Commander, I'm losing control-"  
A crash, and a hit to the head knocks him out.  
He wakes up sluggishly, his vision swimming. Alarms blare in the cockpit and he finds himself upside down. There's blood in his eye. He unstraps himself and pulls himself out of the broken glass, scraping his hand-  
-hurts, and he inspects it for a second before realizing exactly what happened.  
"She has to have a concussion. Hopefully nothing else. Saiph!" He resumes calling out for her, and BD-1 meticulously scans everything, beeping at Cal as he leads him on the trail.  
BD warns him of a trooper unit ahead, and he takes them down easily, when suddenly he hears blaster fire. He runs for the source and takes down the double unit as fast as he can, before figuring out the source of the opposing blaster fire.  
"Saiph?" He calls out, and the blind fire stops. BD-1 hops off his back and jets up to the ledge, trilling and beeping as he hears a muffled ‘hey, little buddy’.  
He climbs over to her and she half-grins, blood trickling down her temple. She’s petting BD-1, who seems to be enjoying her ministrations, pushing into her hand. Cal didn’t know that was a thing that droids could feel.  
"Saiph, are you okay? Mari sent me to find you after your ship crashed." He rushes over, hands hovering over her body.  
"I'm fine. Bad concussion and I have no ship and no comms, but I'll be fine. You can tell the commander I'll be back in action as soon as possible." she begins to push herself up with a grunt, her muscles screaming for more rest as BD hops around her.  
“No way. You’re coming back to the Mantis and getting fixed up.” he stops her, placing his hand lightly but firmly on her shoulder, a silent offering of support.  
“Cal. I’m fine. I just need a minute.” she stops, wincing as she braces herself against the cover she’s just been hiding behind. She reaches up with her non-torn sleeve and tries to wipe away the blood on the side of her face, only succeeding in smearing it across her hair. She grimaces at her now wet sleeve and stands up fully, holstering her blaster. “See? I’m fine. Let’s go.” She climbs down, and he notices her favoring her left leg as he follows her down to the muddy ground littered with trooper bodies. He notes that she managed to take out most of them before he arrived, a sure force to be reckoned with.  
“What’s wrong with your leg?” he almost feels like he’s interrogating her, but the bounty hunter is more stubborn than Greez.  
“Nothing. Just bruised it when I crashed.” she lies through her teeth, but he can only tell she’s lying because knowing her and knowing her reputation, she can walk off most anything. Cal sighs and walks over to her, grabbing her arm and pulling it over his shoulder, sliding his left arm around her waist.  
“You’re more stubborn than Greez.” he repeats his thoughts in lieu of an explanation for his actions when she pulls back a little, staring up at him with indignation. “Just accept the help and let’s go.”  
She huffs but doesn’t pull away, and he supports her weight as they move back towards the still burning wreckage.  
“Wait, I need to get something out of there.” She gestures towards the broken cockpit, and they make their way over.  
“What is it?” he asks, and she pulls away.  
“My respirator and-something else.” she answers, struggling to pull the doors. “Damn it. Of course, the one time I actually need to use this stupid connection I can’t.”  
“You’re not calm. It’s hard to control.” Cal supplies, and she rolls her eyes.  
“You could help.” she says, and Cal flushes.  
“Oh. Sorry.” he says, and BD-1 trills. He pulls off the doors and she crawls in, coughing at the smoke buildup. “Be careful in there.”  
“No shit, genius.” she calls, coughing again. She puts her elbow over her mouth, grimacing when her bloody sleeve comes in contact with her face. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t a good idea to wipe her face with the inner side of her sleeve. She manages to ignore it and crawls into the cockpit, a little disorienting when you’re crawling on the ceiling.  
She groans in annoyance when she sees her respirator, cracked right down the middle. She grabs it anyway and searches around, sighing in relief when she sees the necklace. She grabs the heavy chain and slides it around her neck, sighing in relief when the dull thrum of her concussion is replaced by the hum of the crystal hanging in front of her chest. She tucks it in to her shirt and crawls back out, taking in a few deep breaths of the jungle air as Cal helps her back up. He notices something off and tilts his head. BD-1 copies him, and for a second Saiph finds it cute.  
“What’s that sound?”  
“What- what sound?” she elects to play dumb, but Cal isn’t buying it.  
“That.. hum…” he stops and realizes. “You have a kyber crystal.” he steps back for a second, shocked. “Where did you get it?”  
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Jedi. I don’t think you want to know.”  
“Did you take it from someone?” the unspoken words ring clear. Were they dead?  
She huffs, a wry smile gracing her features.  
“No, Jedi. Sometimes I think you’re naive, and sometimes I think you’re far too jaded. Which is it?” she shakes her head, schooling her expression away. “Maybe you’ll learn the story someday.”  
“Why not now? We have time.”  
“Most of my effort is going into climbing back up that.” Saiph points with her thumb to the cliff, the only truly viable way back to the ship.  
“Right.” Cal says, the air between them awkward. He moves towards her again to help, but she waves him off.  
“Doesn’t hurt as much anymore.” She replies, and they make their way back quietly, only really speaking when they have to.  
When they reach the Mantis, Greez is there to open the door, and he sees the bounty hunter and grimaces.  
“What ate you up and spat ya back out?” he asks, and Saiph rolls her eyes.  
“My ship got shot down and Kestis thinks I’m in need of medical attention.”  
“Wait, hang on. Your ship went down and you survived?”  
“She has a nasty concussion, and something’s wrong with her leg.” Cal interrupts, a little stung that they seemed to be back on last names again.  
“Well, come on, let’s get you fixed up.” Greez waves a hand and starts back up the ramp.  
“What makes you so quick to trust?” she asks, hesitant to follow.  
“Kid, you’ve been one of us for a while now. ‘Sides, Cal ain’t holding a lightsaber to ya.” he says without pause, and it almost makes her smile. “Now come on, Merrin’s impatient.”  
“What does Merrin have to do with anything?” Saiph asks, following them up the ramp.  
“Merrin is really good at healing magick.” Cal says from behind her, and she stops in her tracks as the door closes behind them.  
“Whoa whoa whoa, hey, I did not sign up for this. I’ll just take a bacta patch and a bandage and be on my way.” she sounds almost worried, and Cal can see Greez rolling his eyes, the hypocrite.  
“Too late kid, door’s shut. Once you’re in, you’re in.” he walks off towards the cockpit.  
“I never agreed to anything!” she rebuked, throwing her arm out sideways in a gesture of defiance, before stumbling slightly and wincing. Cal caught her arm, steadying her.  
“You’re like a caged animal.” Merrin appears, and Saiph simply bares her teeth in response, a meager attempt at a retort. She can’t quite focus enough to think of anything scathing.  
“Come, we have an extra room.” she gestures, and Cal helps her over despite her scathing look at both him and Cere, who sits calmly on the bench, flicking through holos on the table.  
“Cal, set her on the bed.” Merrin instructs, and Cal does so without hesitation. Merrin is determined and there’s no delaying anything when it comes to her.  
“Out.” she waves him off and he shrugs apologetically at Saiph, who sneers in his direction as he leaves as quickly as possible. Merrin may be like his family, but he still doesn’t like the feeling in his stomach when she uses her magic near him.  
Merrin busies herself for a moment and then turns, her eyes a strange shade of green that Saiph is sure wasn’t there before.  
“Take off your clothes.” She says matter-of-factly, waiting for her to comply.  
“Uh, no? You have magick, can’t you just do it over them?” Saiph grits her teeth, gripping the edge of the bed.  
“What are you so afraid of, bounty hunter?” Merrin asks, and Saiph pauses. “I am the only one in here, and yet you hide your true self.”  
“Don’t.” Saiph warns, but after a tense moment she gives up and begins to take off her holsters and boots, before beginning the somewhat painful task of removing her actual clothing, down to her underclothes, trying not to think about her exposed scars, years of abuse and mutilation adorning her skin..  
“Good enough. This will hurt a bit.” Merrin says, and sits next to Saiph. The bounty hunter scoots away, alarm flashing across her face.  
“Hurt? I thought this was healing magick- kriff!” she shouts out, her hands gripping the edge of the bed. She feels like she’s going to hurl food she didn’t even eat, as she can feel her wounds stitching themselves back together. As soon as it’s over, several bits of what used to be metal clasps clink to the ground. She hadn’t even realized she was doing it.  
“You have a stronger grasp on the Force than you seem to think.” Merrin says. “Here. Cere has lent some of her old things for you to wear. Use the refresher over there.” she points and gets up wordlessly, leaving immediately.  
“Your bedside manner sucks.” she comments, even though the door is already closed. Her head feels much clearer though, and her leg shows no trace of that blaster shot she hadn’t hidden well from Cal.  
\---  
She sits on her bed, now freshly clean for what feels like the first time in years, even though it’s probably only been a few days since she had access to a shower. A knock at the door shakes her out of her reverie.  
The door to her room slides open when she blinks, and Cal is standing there, looking sheepish.  
“Can I come in?” he asks, and she nods, detangling another knot in her still damp hair. Merrin was kind enough to let her use her brush, although it was… out of the ordinary. She had no clue what it was made out of, but it did the job, and for that she was grateful. Cal gathers her attention and she sets down the brush, turning to face him, still sitting on her bed.  
“Saiph, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I followed my prejudice instead of believing you, and I’m sorry.”  
“It’s fine, Cal.” Cal sighs with relief, they’re back on first names again. “I’m a bounty hunter, I didn’t expect you to assume the best of me.”  
“I’m still sorry. It’s not the way Jedi are supposed to think.”  
“You cling so fastly to those arbitrary rules of yours, and yet you break them so often.” she huffs a wry laugh, picking up the brush again and wincing when it gets caught on another tangle.  
“What do you mean?” Cal almost looks hurt, but she tries to ignore it.  
“Don’t the Jedi have something against attachments? And yet, from what I’ve seen, this is your family. The Jedi only care about the Force, and yet...” she doesn’t finish, letting her words hang in the air. Cal sighs, leaning against the wall next to the door.  
“You’re right.” he says. “But I care for these people, and it’s only made me stronger. I think we should uphold the rules of the old Order, but I think… I think it’s long past time for a change.”  
She smiles and huffs a short laugh at that, and silently rejoices as her hair is finally smooth again.  
“What?” Cal asks, but the corners of his mouth are twitching upward.  
“Just you.” she says, setting the brush down. “It’s strange. Sometimes I think you’re like a child, your outlook on life is so bright. But.. In times like these, it’s what the galaxy needs.”  
“Thanks.” Cal smiles genuinely, and she can’t help but smile back as he gets up. “Greez is cooking, so food will be ready soon. We’ll drop out of hyperspace in about an hour, I think.”  
“Thanks for letting me know.” Cal nods as he leaves, and the door slides shut behind him.  
\--  
Half an hour later, Saiph emerges, dressed in some of Cere’s old clothes, a simple tunic and some pants. They don’t fit very well, but she’s grateful to not have to wear her torn up clothes.  
“She emerges.” Greez announces, and she huffs a laugh. She’s only really known Greez for a day, but she quickly learned that he’s sarcastic, stubborn and most of all he cares for his newfound family a lot more than he wants people to know.  
“Come on, sit down. Is it just me, or since we’ve been gaining people, everything moves slower?”  
“You want fast?” she retorts, and before he can really reply she’s sliding into her seat.  
“Why do I attract strange people?” Greez mutters, handing her a plate anyway. She thanks him and they all dig in, BD bouncing around and stopping every few minutes to stare intently at the beautiful terrarium, which she notices is near full of varying plants.  
“How do you keep such different plants together and have them thrive so well?” she asks. “And is that Bleeding Gut?” she points with her utensil at the bright red plant.  
“Yeah, Cal found that on that hell- I mean, wonderful planet.” he averts his eyes from Merrin, who raises an eyebrow but goes back to eating anyway. “But how do you know what that is?”  
“When I was really little- and I mean little-” she pauses, reflecting. “My father used to keep a garden. Not for food or because it was pretty. He liked to study them, learn them.” Cal notices her wistful gaze and a hot iron of jealousy burns for a moment before he realizes what he’s doing, and he forces himself to let it go. Saiph blinks, looking away. “I’m surprised I still remember this much, after everything.” she huffs, and digs in, leaving no room for further conversation on her behalf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was originally going to be more content between the last chapter and this chapter but I really wasn't satisfied with anything no matter how much I tried, so here lol


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again sorry for disappearing lol, here's an extra chapter for the day

“Where are we?” Saiph asks as they drop out of hyperspace.  
“We’re headed for Bogano. It’s a far reach planet, the Empire didn’t know it existed till a few months ago.”  
“A few months? So they know about it?”  
“They discovered it when the Second-” Cere pauses, frowns. “When Trilla was tracking Cal.”  
“Who?”  
“It’s.. a long story.” Cal says softly.  
“We need to land for a while, and the only part of the Empire who knew about this place were in Trilla’s battalion.” Cere ends the conversation, and they all strap in, landing easily. The door opens and Saiph walks down the ramp, smelling the fresh air. Wind blows gently and she marvels at the strange landscape, though somewhat obscured by a low-hanging mist.  
“Welcome to Bogano.” Cal walks down the ramp behind her and she takes another deep breath.  
“It’s so peaceful.” Saiph remarks, watching as some small mammal scurries around.  
“It’s become a sanctuary for us, in a way. A place to hide.” he huffs a sardonic laugh, and she half-smiles.  
“It’s much easier to breathe here too.” she says. The air is full of oxygen, and not as heavy with condensation as Kashyyyk.  
“I’ve been meaning to ask about that… If you don’t mind.” he ends with a sheepish look in her direction, and she huffs a laugh, looking over at him.  
“I’m only half human. Never bothered to figure out what the other half was. I never knew my biological parents.”  
“But you said-”  
“Yeah, my father wasn’t mine by blood. He was the village medic, and I got dropped off by some couple passing through. He raised me.” she paused. “I don’t know which side it came from, or if it was a consequence of the melding of two species who shouldn’t bear children. My body can’t quite process air properly, so I need extra to keep my levels up. Hence, I needed to get my respirator back on Kashyyyk.” she gestured vaguely, and Cal nodded, a comfortable silence falling over the two.  
“Actually, I wanted to show you something.” Cal holds out a hand. “Come on.”  
“O..kay?” Saiph places her hand in his and he gently pulls her, walking across the platform the Mantis had landed on. They come to a slope, and Saiph stops, peering into the distance.  
“What’s that spire? I thought this planet was uninhabited.” she said.  
“It is. It wasn’t always uninhabited, though.” Cal starts, hopping down a ledge and she follows. “This used to be a temple of the Zeffo, an ancient Force-wielding race. Almost every member of their race could use the Force, to some extent.”  
“Wow.” Saiph breathes, following him to a small bridge.  
“Yeah. Their most powerful users were called the Sages, kind of like the Jedi, if the Jedi had any true political power.” he grabs onto a thick vine system hanging off the cliff face. “Come on, it’s safe. I’ve climbed this tons.”  
“Wouldn’t that make it less safe?” Saiph jabbed, grabbing on anyway and pulling her weight around the side as Cal let out a sound of protest. She pulled herself up onto the ledge, where Cal was already standing at the other side.  
“Rude.” Cal let out a wry smile, and she grinned back at him.  
“Keep going.” Saiph gestures, and he keeps talking.  
“Anyway, there were three really powerful Sages, who all have tombs on different worlds. Two of them are on Zeffo, and the third is on Dathomir. That’s how I met Merrin.” he says, before hurrying across a pipe. Saiph follows more carefully, and he pauses. “There are more Zeffo tombs we haven’t discovered, all over the galaxy.”  
“So that was what you were doing when we met.” Saiph mused, and Cal nodded.  
“We’re trying to honor Eno Cordova. He was the Jedi who found this place, and he was Cere’s mentor. His life’s work was made studying these people, and why they failed. Turns out it was the same story as ours.” he gets quiet. “He had a vision about the Purge, but the Council didn’t listen. It turned out to be our downfall.”  
“I’m sorry.” she places a hand on his shoulder. “I really am.”  
“It’s okay.” Cal says, plastering on a fake smile. “Come on, we have to take this.” He gestures to a much longer, and somehow more rusted pipe.  
“Uh, you sure?” she asks.  
“‘Course. It’s sturdy.” he reassures her, climbing out and dropping to hang from it, disappearing under the rocks.  
“Here goes nothing.” she muttered to herself, following after him. She was a good climber, but it was evidenced by Cal’s scrapper background that he knew how to find a way through even the strangest of landscapes.  
When she lands on her feet, she looks around to see random jugs everywhere, a water processing unit, and a giant fan whirring fast enough to kill you if you got too close.  
“Whoa.” she takes a deep breath, the cool air circulating around her cooling the sweat off her brow.  
“Yeah. Cordova practically lived here.” Cal mentions, going over to a yellowed cable and yanking it down, and Saiph huffed a laugh as she watched him get pulled up to the ledge above. He dropped the rope back down, jerking his head in a gesture for her to get a move on. She shakes her head, walking over to it and giving an experimental tug.  
“You have to really pull.” he says unhelpfully.  
“I did see you do it.” she retorts, and yanks on it, losing her breath as the rope retracts, pulling her up. She hops forward and lets go of the rope, letting out a breathless laugh. “Lot faster than it looks.”  
“Yeah, no kidding. We’re almost there.” he gestures, and she follows him up the ramp.  
“You have your jet boots on, right?” he asks. “That’ll make this a lot easier.”  
“Of course I do.” she rolls her eyes, and follows him to what’s left of a bridge between a ten foot gap. He gets a running start, leaping forwards and at the last second before he starts to fall, the Force ripples from him as he flips forwards, rolling onto the soft grass across from her. She almost shivers at the feeling it gives her, like wind rumbling through a valley. She shakes it off at Cal’s odd look and gets a running start as well, pushing off and activating her boots, giving herself an extra boost across the gap. Her feet hit the ground hard and she stumbles. Cal catches her arm, pulling her back up.  
“Haven’t had to use those in a while.” she admits, standing straight again. She follows him over to the opposite edge of the cliff, where a tiny camp is set up.  
“It should be out soon.” he says cryptically, sitting down on the sleeping bag.  
“What are you talking about?” she asks, standing a few feet away.  
“Come on, sit. You’ll see.” he says, and she reluctantly takes the spot next to him, letting her feet hang over the edge.  
They sit in silence for a while, just breathing calmly. She notices Cal has his eyes closed, and his chest is barely moving. His eyelashes are long, and they just barely rest on his cheeks. The feeling of peace radiates from him, and she revels in it for a second before wondering just how she can feel his emotion so well.  
A long forgotten memory stirs beneath the surface, and she pushes it away. She doesn’t want to remember. She gazes into the distance, willing her mind to go blank, and that’s when she sees it.  
A hulking figure, crawling through the mist.  
“Cal.” she says, softly, and his eyes open, dazed for a moment. “Look.” she gestures, and he peers into the distance for a second.  
“That’s it.” he says, a smile gracing his face as the sun comes out from behind a cloud, forming a glowing halo around his fiery hair. She snaps her gaze away when he catches her eyes, confusion lacing his features.  
“What is it?” she asks before he can say anything, and Cal settles back.  
“It’s a Binog,” he starts. “They were revered by the Zeffo as guardians of this planet. Cordova studied them for months on end, hoping to see one.”  
“Did he?” she asks, and he turns to face her as the creature lumbers around, grazing on the plant life. “I mean, did he ever see one?”  
“I don’t know. He never mentions it in his journals.”  
“It’s kind of sad, never knowing.” she says, and he agrees, though his mind drifts to someone else entirely, someone he never thought he’d feel any sort of sadness about.  
“You okay?” she asks, pulling him out of his reverie.  
“Yeah, I- I was just thinking, about everything that’s happened. About Trilla.”  
“Who was she?” Saiph asks, and Cal sucks in a breath.  
“She was the Second Sister.”  
“How can you feel sad about someone who tried and clearly almost succeeded in killing you?” she asks, confusion lacing her features as she tries and fails to make the connection.  
“It’s.. a long story.” Cal stops, but sighs. “We have time.” he pauses, gathering his thoughts. “I was thirteen when the Purge happened. I was in training, a padawan. My master, Jaro Tapal, was the commander of a ship stationed at Bracca.” He continues the story, to Saiph’s growing horror. She can tell that he leaves out a lot of details, and she doesn’t push.  
“Prauf, an Abenedo, took care of me. Helped me get a job in the scrapper’s guild. One day, we were sent to secure some clamps before the cutters came. Dangerous work, but it would’ve doubled our pay for the day.” he pauses. “We secured the clamps, but.. One cable snapped, and when it went, the rest followed. We barely held on, but Prauf slipped. I had to save him.” he details the events with such clarity that Saiph can see it behind her eyes. He details his escape, sadness clogging his voice when he speaks of how Prauf died.  
“I’m sorry, Cal.” she says in earnest, and he nods before continuing, going through Cere’s story and talking about everything he had done on all those worlds.  
When he gets to opening the vault and Trilla ambushing him, he pauses.  
“We were fighting, and I managed to disarm her. I grabbed her saber, but there was so much pain, screaming out. I was paralyzed. She took the holocron and escaped, to Nur.” He says. “That’s when I knew there was still Light in her, that she was pushing down, because she felt so betrayed by Cere. She left behind troops here, on Bogano. I was barely able to fight through them, with my brain still half-stuck in the echo of her lightsaber. We knew getting to Nur would be an issue, since it was a fortress. Cere knighted me, and reopened her connection to the Force, meaning we had two Jedi. We got to Nur, and Cere found a way through. Cere and I fought our way to the interrogation chambers, but got separated. I had to fight Trilla again, and I managed to finally beat her, but.. I couldn’t kill her. Cere arrived, and.. For a moment, I thought we would be able to escape with the holocron and with a possible ally.”  
“But..” Saiph prodded, and he shuddered.  
“I felt this dark wave of the Force. I felt like I was drowning in it, and Trilla just looked so terrified. And she was powerful, too. But this… It was darkness like I’d never felt before.” he pauses, swallowing. “This giant figure came in, and.. He cut down Trilla like she was nothing. Cere tried to fight him, but he tossed her over the side like she was just a fly, nothing more than a nuisance. I barely survived, made it close to the surface before he found us. BD-1 managed to shock him for a moment, but he managed to stab me with my own lightsaber.” Cal touches at his ribs gently, as if feeling the pain he felt in that moment. Saiph places a hand on his shoulder, grounding him as best she could as he continued.  
“But Cere came back. For a moment, she fell to the Dark side, using it against him. But I managed to call her back and pull a piece of the hall away, flooding it and giving us a chance to escape. Cere was unconscious, so I gave her my rebreather, but we were too deep. I almost drowned. If it weren’t for Merrin, we would have died there.” he stops. “I didn’t wake up for a few days. When I did, I- we decided to destroy the holocron. Those kids don’t deserve to live in fear, like we did. Like we do.”  
They sit in silence for a while, as the sun begins to set.  
“I think you did the right thing.” she says.  
“I hope so.” he replies. “It’s getting dark, we should get back.” Saiph stands, dusting herself off and holds out a hand. Cal takes it, and she pulls him up. She can feel him in the Force, distant and out of focus. She doesn’t let go of his hand, and although it’s somewhat strange, it feels stable and grounding. He seems entranced for a second, before blinking back into the present.  
“What?” Saiph asks, and his head tilts the barest amount.  
“You’re.. Closed off. Usually, if I touch a person’s hands, I glimpse things about them but you… it’s as if there’s a wall.”  
“Maybe I’m just meant to be a mystery.” she jokes, letting go of his bare hand and trying not to think of her own addled memory. Cal lets it go, but she can see he’s still thinking about it.  
They make their way back to the ship, finding Cere and BD-1 waiting on the ramp.  
“You took your time.” Cere says, glancing between them as BD-1 hops around, whirring and trilling at the two.  
“Cal told me everything.” Saiph decided to be truthful, after all, she had no reason to lie to the older Jedi. “I’m sorry about Trilla.”  
“Thank you.” Cere nods, “Now come on, food is ready.” she walks back up the ramp. Cal walks forwards, but stops when he sees Saiph isn’t following.  
“I’ll be there in a minute, I just want to.. I need to think for a minute.” she smiles reassuringly, and Cal smiles back before heading up, the door hissing shut behind him. Her smile drops then, and she sits on the ramp, letting herself disappear into her mind. She opens her eyes to darkness, a reflective wall in front of her face. She reaches out, feels the weight come over her as her fingers touch the cool surface. She runs her fingers across it, until they stop on an inconsistency.  
There’s a crack.  
She clenches her teeth, drawing away from it.  
Why now, of all times?  
It stretches up, up into oblivion, long and thin, with smaller cracks emanating out from it.  
It reeks of Darkness. Suddenly, her impenetrable wall feels like a thin pane of glass.  
She gasps back into the present, a nudge at her side alerting her to BD-1, who beeps at her with concern.  
“I’m okay, BD. Just needed a moment.” she lies, and BD-1 lets out a long beep, stepping back as she rises to her feet. It’s only been a minute now, so she treks back up the ramp and BD-1 follows, and she seats herself at the table, joining in the conversation. In the back of her mind, a seed of doubt sprouts, and she stamps it down as best she can.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sike u get an extra chapter (its real short though) and as always thanks for reading!

Muffled music begins to emanate from somewhere on the ship and Saiph sits up, recognizing the tune. She’s grateful for the interruption; she was getting too deep into her thoughts and it was getting dark.  
She gets up, touching the controls next to the door and it slides open with a soft hiss. She steps into the hall and realizes that it’s coming from the room on the end. Cal’s room. She’s only seen glimpses of him in there, tinkering with BD-1 or meditating, and so she hesitates to go knock.  
But she’s curious as to why a Jedi listens to Black Thunder, so she goes and knocks anyway. The door slides open immediately and she’s greeted by the sight of Cal wearing a simple shirt and pants, hunched over the workbench at the back of the room and nodding along to the music.  
“Never met a Jedi who listens to Black Thunder.” she says, and he jumps, almost dropping his laser saw. “Sorry. I thought you opened the door.” she apologizes, and he turns to face her.  
“I did, I just thought it was BD. You… knock the same.” he says shortly before going back to tinkering with whatever he’s doing.  
“What are you doing?” she asks, delaying having to go back to her room and face her demons alone.  
“I, um…” he holds up a black piece of durasteel, and she huffs.  
“My respirator.”  
“I figured, since we won’t be on Bogano much longer, you’d need it sooner or later.”  
“You didn’t have to do that.” she says softly, moving closer as he fuses the clamps back together.  
“I needed something to do.”  
“Bad dream?” she asks, and he shrugs.  
“In a way.” he turns to her, and she can see a smudge of dust on his cheek.  
“You have something..” she gestures to her own cheek, and he wipes at it with the back of his hand, only succeeding in smearing it. “That didn’t help, here.” she picks up the cloth at the edge of the bench, reaching out and wiping it off his cheek.  
“Thanks.” he says, a soft smile gracing his features.  
“No problem.” she smiles back, and picks up the respirator, turning it over in her hands. “Wow. You repaired it perfectly.” she flicks it on, and a soft hiss greets her as it begins processing. “How did you know what to do?” she asks, and he holds up his bare hands.  
“It has a strong echo.” he replies, and she hums in acknowledgement.  
“What did you see?” she asks, turning it off again, running her fingers over its surfaces.  
“Just you, fixing it.” he answers honestly, and she finds herself smiling again. She seems to do that a lot, now. She can’t find it in herself to mind.  
“I remember that.” she says, and the look in his eyes prods her to continue. “It was after a big bounty, long before I ever saw you. I had just ended a huge smuggling ring for the Empire, and it ended with me fighting another bounty hunter- one of the Brood. I almost died.” she huffs a short laugh, looking down at the respirator. “He crushed my respirator, and we were on Corellia.” It went unsaid that Corellia was one of the more polluted planets. “I could barely breathe, and I got pushed over the edge and into one of the waterways.”  
Cal watched her with concerned eyes.  
“Little did he know he saved my ass. I had a huge bounty on my head, and everyone thought I was dead, so I reinvented myself.” she gestured to her own appearance. “I still miss that jacket, though.” she sighed wistfully. “Bantha fur and leather.” she laughed suddenly. “Sorry, I just realized that I’m waxing poetic about a jacket.”  
“It’s interesting.” Cal says, and she can tell he means it. “Well, I’m glad you survived.” he says.  
“Me too.” she smiles, and taps the respirator. “I should…” she gestures lamely at the door, stepping back.  
“Yeah, me too.” Cal says, and they part, and Saiph retreats back to her room, still thinking about who she used to be.  
Kyra Nirn, ace bounty hunter in the Riphon bracket of the Kraxa clan. Ruthless and cunning, but most well known as a nasty fighter.  
She laughs at the thought and wonders what her old self would think of her now. Running with two Jedi, a Nightsister, and someone she would have hunted down for money once upon a time.  
Kyra would have devised a way to gain their trust and then drive them into the ground for money. She would have manipulated and lied to the most trustworthy people she’s ever known.  
Saiph decides that no, Kyra Nirn would hate Saiph Kallea, everything she stands for now. She would hate her for using her real name, she would hate her for trusting this strange group of people, and most of all she’d hate her for betraying those who employed her.  
She’s still almost thankful that that Haxion Brood scumbag had taken her by surprise.  
Saiph yawns and finally realizes how exhausted she is. She flops onto her cot, leaving her respirator on the table nearby. She stretches out in her bed, rolling over and sighing, sleep finally taking her as she-

-Turns to leave, stalking off when searing pain hits her spine. She falls with a cry, breathless ss she tries to get up, reach for her blaster.  
The Inquisitor is upon her in seconds, Force choking her and lifting her off the floor.  
"You're of no use to me, hunter." The Inquisitor spits, and their hand lights up, crackling with red electricity as it connects with her neck-

-Aches as she shoots up, her breath strangled as she grabs at her collarbone, fumbling for her respirator and pressing it against her face, her brows furrowed as she takes deep breaths, calming herself. The door slides open and she jumps, only to reveal Cal in the doorway.  
"Saiph?" he enters the room, having sensed her distress radiating across the ship. "Everything okay?" He doesn't seem to notice how little they're both wearing, both in not much more than sleepclothes and so she pretends not to either.  
"Fine. Just... a bad dream." She rubs over the aching scar, and he notices.  
"Mind if I ask?" He says, softly. She shakes her head. He sits down on the cot next to her.   
"As long as you promise not to judge me. It was a long, long time ago."  
"The past can haunt anyone. But I won't judge you." he reassures her, and she sighs.  
"When I was a bounty hunter, mostly it was just surviving one job to the next, one meal to the next. I wasn't living, working for the Kraxa clan." She pauses. "One day I received a transmission." She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, and Cal can see the regret etched into her features. "It was from the Empire. I had no room for morals at that point. It was get paid or starve. And they offered so much money." She already sounded upset, and Cal took her hand. The wall in her head seemed thinner than before.  
"They had heard how efficient I was. Wanted me to track down a Jedi they'd been hunting but couldn't pinpoint."  
"What was their name?" He asks, hope etched into his features.  
"I never knew. They wouldn't tell me. Part of me hopes that they had no idea either." She shakes her head. "I spent three months tracking her down. And when I found her.." she grits her teeth. "She had a family. A wife, two beautiful kids... I couldn't take that away from someone."  
"What did you do?" He asks, rubbing a thumb over the back of her hand. It's steadying, keeping her from spiraling into doubt.  
"I told them who I was. Why I had been sent. They were rightfully angry, but the Jedi understood. She was prepared to give herself up for her family. I couldn't let that happen. So I told them of a safe place. It used to be one of my safe havens, way out on the far reaches of the galaxy. Nearly invisible, and looks uninhabitable. But there's this tiny village there, and so I told them where to go. Gave them money for a jumpship."  
"What did you tell the Inquisitors?" Cals asks. He knows he's pushing, but he wants to know if the Jedi and her family made it.  
"I told them that the Jedi was long gone. That there was no trace of anything. I said that she probably died hiding in the slums." She winces as she says it. "They knew I was lying." She tenses up a little bit, her grip on Cal's hand tightening.  
"You don't have to keep going." Cal says, concern washing over his features.  
"I want- I need to." She takes a long breath. "They told me they wouldn't pay me, which I figured was fair, and they told me to leave." She takes another, shakier breath. "And as I was, that coward shot me in the back. I don’t know what they hit me with, but it burned like hell. And- I tried to get up and they-" she stopped, and Cal pulled her towards him, and she took half breaths, clutching at his shoulders. "They blocked off my air. And- lightning came out of their hands and-"   
"Hey, hey hey. I have you. It's over. It's over." He rocks slightly as the former bounty hunter comes apart in his arms.  
\---  
Slowly, she wakes up, and realizes she's tangled up in something. Just before she begins to thrash about, she realizes where she is. She's on the Mantis, on her bed.  
There's a warm body tangled in her limbs.  
The previous night comes rushing back and she glances up and immediately regrets it.  
Cal is dead asleep, face relaxed and peaceful, and also very, very close to her face. If she tried to move away and he happened to tighten around her like she believed would happen... thinking about it sent heat through her face.  
At least they were both wearing clothes.  
Yeah, this was just some harmless cuddling, right? She grimaced at herself, he needed to remove herself from this situation fast.  
She slowly began to extricate her limbs from his one by one, beginning with her legs.  
He mumbled something and her fear came true- the arm slung on top of her tightened and she stilled, not daring to even breathe. He didn't move after that, and she risked a look up at him.  
His lashes sat low, dusting the tops of his cheeks, adorned with freckles. In fact, if she looked closely enough, he had freckles all over his face, although they were extremely light and hard to pick out.  
She snaps out of it, and flushes, twisting her neck around as best she could to see the time-  
It was barely 3 hours into the new day. She turned back and let out a breath. Was it wrong of her to appreciate the touch for a while longer?  
\---  
Cal awoke suddenly, but without fear. He did, however, almost startle when he realized whose bed he was currently in.  
Saiph was fast asleep, curled towards him, their limbs tangled together.  
He moved slowly, propping himself up- and subsequently realized that he was not, in fact, wearing a shirt.  
Oops.  
He looked down at Saiph, her peaceful expression a stark contrast to last night's fear and self-loathing.  
His eyes traced where her largest scar began, just above the corner of her jaw, following it all down the side of her neck and stretching over both sides of her left shoulder. He glances down at the scarring from his lightsaber wound, and for a sick second he thinks that they truly do have a common enemy.  
He grimaces as the thought as BD-1 skitters into the room, chirping at him. He shushes the overactive droid, slowly getting up without disturbing her- a harder task than it seemed. Once he extricated himself, he slipped out of her room to go put some clothes on and maybe try and meditate to get the butterflies out of his stomach.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY  
> college sucks and ive been so busy  
> Plus i rocket through obsessions like a truck goin 90 on a 65 so fallen order is like 3 obsessions ago  
> BUT i still wanna finish this story bc i hate abandoning unfinished stuff yknow  
> Anyway heres a short chapter to hopefully get me back into writing this

Saiph wakes up alone.

She feels torn between missing the extra body heat and being thankful he didn’t wake her up as she sits up slowly, grimacing as she pulls her hand through her tangled hair.

Once she’s dressed in some of Cere’s old clothes- she hopes that maybe they’ll be able to stop on a market planet or somewhere where she can get some clothes that fit right- Cere’s shoulders are slightly more narrow than hers, and she’s slightly shorter than the returned Jedi so everything is just too long. She emerges to the sight of an empty common area, and an emptier cockpit.

Strange. It’s light out, so she figures everyone’s outside.

Instead, when she opens the door, all she finds is Cere, meditating in the damp grass and fog. At the sound of the door hissing shut behind her, Cere turns, a welcoming smile on her face.

“You’re up early.”

“Did I interrupt you?”

“No, I finished meditating a while ago. I’m just enjoying the quiet.” she replies. Saiph has never seen the older woman like this. Usually there’s fire in her gaze and purpose in her stance, but right now she just looks at peace.

“How do you do that?” she asks, sitting near Cere as she raises an eyebrow, a questioning look on her face. “I mean, how do you seperate yourself from.. All this? You always seem so fired up and ready for a fight, but right now..”

“A Jedi has to be in control of their feelings at all times. Meditation helps restore that inner peace.” Cere answers simply, turning to look at the rising suns over the mist.

“I’ve tried meditating, but it just makes me feel worse.” Saiph huffs a self-deprecating laugh. “It doesn’t work for the impure, I guess.”

“You’re not impure, Saiph.” Cere turns to face her again. “Why do you say that?”

“I’m half-human, maybe not even, and I can barely use the Force. That was enough to make me impure as a child.” she remarks distantly, recalling the faintest memories of rocks and jeers echoing against the ever-present wall.

“There’s something blocking you, I can sense it.” Cere focuses in, her gaze piercing into the depths of Saiph’s head. At least, that’s how it feels with how hard she’s looking at her.

“There’s a wall, in my head. I know it’s there, but for so long it was just that, a wall. But.. There’s something... lurking behind it. Memories I’ve forgotten about that I don’t think I want to remember.” she says, and suddenly her eyes feel wet. She blinks out of her head and shakes her head subconsciously. “Wait,” she pauses, “ were you just in my head?” she leans back, wary.

“No, Saiph. You opened your mind and I simply looked. Your.. ailment, for lack of a better term, is completely intentional. Whether it was placed by your own mind or by someone else, that I cannot find.” Cere is calm, but somehow Saiph can see it bothers her, not knowing.

"What am I supposed to do with that? It's getting thinner, and there's a crack. I feel like it's going to shatter, and whatever's behind it is going to hurt."

"I believe that part of your solution to this is control. You lack it in every way but physical. While that may be normal for most, those of us who are Force-sensitive need to maintain control over our emotions to keep us from falling to the Dark Side."

"I can control my power." Saiph replies, confused.

"But not your emotions, Saiph." Cere emphasizes, and Saiph pulls back, stung. "There's no need to feel ashamed. I fight against the Dark side every day. I struggle like you do. But… I believe it's not too late for you. You have a choice in this, but I hope you'll learn instead of hiding from who you are."

"I…" Saiph pauses, and thinks for a minute. "I don't want to lose control."

"I'm glad to hear it. The next while will be busy, but in between things Cal and I will teach you to meditate and take control of your emotions." Cere unfolds herself from her position, and gets up.

"Now, I believe our captain should be awakening soon." She pauses, an unspoken question in her eyes as Saiph remains on the ground.

"I think I'm going to stay outside a bit longer."

Cere disappears into the ship, and Saiph takes a deep breath of the fresh air. She'd forgotten how nice it was to breathe clean air. Just like-

"Hey, bounty hunter. Breakfast is up." The Lateran interrupted and the thought vanished. Saiph got up and took one more long look at the peaceful landscape as the light of its star filtered through the mist, setting the lush green of the bog planet on fire as it reflected off the dew.

She walked up the steps and the door closed behind her, and she sat at the table and tried not to make eye contact with Cal across the table, instead making uncomfortably long eye contact with Merrin.

After they finish and clean up, they all stand around the holomap as Greez slides it to a new planet.

"First off, we're headed to Ja'atar. I know, I know," he concedes at Cere's disappointed look, "It's seedier than a farm field, but it's close and cheap and we can fuel up, restock on food and bacta and we can get our resident sharpshooter some clothes that actually fit her." He says. "Then we fly to Hertia, because you nerds have a Zeffo tomb to climb around in and we stay a night or two there depending on when Cal decides he's done playing with ghosts." Cal looks affronted, and Saiph can't help but snicker.

"I don't like Ja'atar, there are a lot of bounty hunters and we've had reports of some Imperial presence."

"Come on, Cere, I know that place like the back of my hands." Greez waves both his right arms to emphasize his point. "I know where all the shops are, and I know where there's a rebellion friendly bar."

"We're not going to a bar, Greez. We're going for essentials only." Cere gestures. "I think we're done here." She heads for the cockpit, sliding into her seat and beginning liftoff prep.

"Great. Ja'atar it is." Greez spreads his arms, and then pokes at Merrin. "See, I told ya it'd work." Merrin huff through her nose in response, amusement glittering in her eyes as Greez makes his way to the pilot seat.

\---


End file.
